I held up a silver bottle filled with red liquid. It poured into my mouth with one gulp and I sighed out a breath of relief.

My wounds were healed slightly and my fatigue was nearly completely removed.

I was using healing elixirs, similar to the ones that Liv gave me but not nearly as powerful. Basic brews like the one I had just used would only heal the user by a small amount of their health. Mostly just to repair any small cuts and bruises on your body while also filling up your energy.

The one that Liv fed me before was something of the highest quality, not only did my health instantly fill up but I had received some kind of energy boost that affected my skills and power.

Something like that could never be owned by a silver rank, nonetheless, a rust rank like me.

I finished the vial and placed it back into the slot on my belt. I had a few lined up, all low grade of course. Besides the health elixirs I had lined together, I also had two energy-replenishing vials. A drink from that and I’ll be rearing to go.

Arga and I planned to spend quite a long time in the Tower today to make up for yesterday, so energy would be key for keeping pace.

Oh and in regards to the mysterious ore she used to make Agos, apparently her father didn’t seem too mad about it. He told her it was better if it went back into the Dungeon. Neither of us figured out what he meant but I’m just happy he wasn’t mad about it.

So today we could focus everything on exploring and gathering.

Since she used all the materials we got on my gear, she needed to make double the haul in today’s run. We need at least two bags full to meet their monthly quota. We had barely begun our adventure and as such only had about half a bag filled up. We were moving along steadily but the Makrum shards were becoming a lot less easy to find.

I think other adventurers must be on the same mission as us…

We were resting inside a stone room deeper into the sixth floor. We followed the small stream down the cavern drop from before and wound up there. There were a lot more rooms and tunnels on the way but we found out that they all linked up at different areas.

I suppose it doesn’t matter which route you take because most of them end up in the same places.

“Should we move on?”

“Good to go.” Arga picked up her sword which was resting at her side.

We had a choice between two tunnels. The one to our left seemed to head upwards, while the other one continued straight ahead.

“Which way we going?”

“I’m not sure, should we just choose it randomly?”

“…!”

My ears twitched slightly at the faint but distant sound that seemed to turn not just mine but Arga’s head as well.

A voice up ahead in the tunnel leading upwards. It sounded like a young girl screaming, it might be some struggling adventurers. It’s not uncommon for people to get overwhelmed and start voicing their emotions out loud but this sounded different.

I listened closely, trying to hear it again. It was faint but there was something up ahead—no! Someone, calling for help.

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“Arga?”

“…I hear it too.”

Left.

I race into the left tunnel and Arga followed behind me.

“Let’s hurry!”

“Right!”

The tunnel had a steep climb up, I had to summon a large amount of force just to kick my feet forward and move.

If I fell back, it would be a massive roll down.

The closer we got to the top, the louder her screams became.

It was a young girl, a very feminine scream. She sounded terrified out of her mind, I could only imagine what was waiting for us up above.

I got irritated and clicked my tongue.

“Tsk—Rush!”

With a flash of white aura, I burst forward and flew up to the top of the path. I landed on a levelled surface at the entrance to a large room. A domed room with dark purple stone walls and scattered light stones illuminated the room with a bright blue shine. The ground was made from smooth grey stone just like the other rooms.

A large boulder resided at the centre of the room, among other smaller ones. My eyes were drawn to the largest figure in the room.

A large white snake had its sights on the boulder—no something smaller was in its grasp. I looked closer and noticed a child pinned to the boulder in fear.

She’s only a kid! What is she doing in the Tower, she doesn’t look anywhere close to being 16.

I didn’t wait for answers, I needed to act. My body rushed forward once I saw the monster towering over her move in closer. It lowered its head with a slow fixed speed.

As I came closer to the beast, it snapped its head towards me and hissed its tongue to warn me away. Just like that, I had become its next opponent.

When we came to a standoff I realised just how large this thing was. At first glance, it looks to be at my height but the rest of its body is lined up behind it on the floor. If it were to stretch out to full length it would easily be three times my height.

Its silvery fangs were sharper than any dagger I had seen before, easily able to bite through me with ease.

It spread out its long body to the sides, making its presence larger as if I were fighting three opponents at once. The pearly white complexion of its scaled body drew closer and closer.

The crimson gem on its forehead gleamed under the bright shine of the light stones above us, so close that I could almost touch it.

This was our stage. Both opponents, ready to fight.

{Basilisk Lv15}

Its health bar curved around its head and my eyes widened in response.

Outmatched once again… Its level is only a few levels higher but what worries me are those scales.

Sharp white scales covered its body, with a bony spine along its back. The small curved spikes that ran along the centre of its back looked like bone that broke free from its skin. Each one, a potential weapon attached to its body.

As the snake moved away from the child and closer to me, I saw Arga out of the corner of my eye moving in.

She went around the room towards the child and watched over her for safety. She would protect her, leaving this guy to me. This was the best option, since I was higher level.

I have to beat it.

Move!

I raced forward and the Basilisk struck. Its sharp fangs collided with my Chakrams and my body was pushed back.

The level of strength it managed to generate with those strikes would have broken my old blades.

I smiled at the twin Chakrams that weren't even scratched. They had cut through every monster we encountered so far like butter but now they were proving their sturdiness as my shields.

The snake didn’t waste time, after crashing into me it pulled its head away and moved swayed to the sides. With fluid motions it weaved into different corners, looking for an angle to strike at.

Its eyes sharpened and then—

Blocked!

My blades defended another strike but my body didn’t have the same luck. The vibrations that struck my arms ran through my body and forced my leg back. I dropped to my knee and felt a growing pain in my wrists.

Shit!

The Basilisk drew back for another strike and shot its head forward like a cannon. The massive silvery daggers in its mouth were coming at full speed and bit into the air. A cloud of black smoke filled its mouth as it snapped its jaws.

{Shadow Step has levelled up}

{Exclusive skill has been unlocked} – [Second Step}

A new skill, that might work pretty well. Let’s put this to the test.

The snake's head came into view, and just as I emerged from my skill, it had already closed in on me and was seconds away from nabbing my leg.

“Not good—second step!” The notification had still been in front of my eyes, so I yelled out the only thing I could think of at that moment.

My body disappeared once more into another burst of black smoke and appeared above the Basilisks.

“Hoyaaaa!” I screamed out as I let both Chakrams cross into its neck.

Two blades were released from my grip, one black and another white. Both blades cut through the air and collided with its white scales

The dark blade bounced off, unable to damage through the tough scales. The white blade however had left a shallow gash in the serpent's defence and a trail of bright red blood stained the monster's pure body.

That’s the power of an A-class weapon…amazing~